Lame-duck Republican (constitutionalist) Governor Elbridge Gerry, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, signs the Reapportionment Act of 1812, designed to realign the state’s electoral districts to favor the his party at the expense of the Federalist (nationalist) party.
NOTE: One of the districts was so distorted that it was lampooned for looking like a salamander. Federalist newspapers began derisively calling it a “Gerrymander.” Hence the origin of the term.
[restored 11/26/2021]
Subsequent Events:
Authority:
massachusetts constitution, Chapter I, Section II, Article I [Clause 1]
malegislature.gov/laws/constitution
References:
Calvin D. Linton, ed. The Bicentennial Almanac: 200 Years of America, 1776-1976, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1975), 70.
“Today in History,” Orange County (California) Register, 11 February 2005, News:25.
Current U.s. National Debt:
